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Four years ago, a Calgary Stampeders rookie named Juwan Simpson arrived at Olympic Stadium in Montreal to play in the Grey Cup.

He would make three tackles that day and celebrate long into the Montreal night with his Stampeder teammates after their 22-14 win over the Alouettes, and likely headed home the next day to Calgary believing that this might be a fairly regular occurrence in an eight-team league.

On Sunday, though, Simpson will finally make his return appearance after three seasons of playoff setbacks with the Stampeders, and, rest assured, he knows now what he didn’t know then — trips to the Grey Cup don’t happen often, so you’d better take advantage.

“This ain’t my first rodeo,” said a pensive Simpson on Friday after the Stamps went through their final full practice in preparation for Sunday’s 100th Grey Cup when the Stamps take on the Toronto Argonauts.

“I understand what’s going on here, I understand what’s at stake. I’m all in, man. We’ll have six months to think about this. Gotta get it.”

The Stamps arrive here riding an emotional wave, having won six straight games (four straight down the stretch of the regular season to finish with a 12-6 record and then twice more in the post-season), and having the sense that after having roadblock after roadblock thrown at them with injuries, they can accomplish just about anything.

The word “destiny” has been tossed around in the past few weeks, and it’s fair enough, because based on the way the Stamps have won games this season — three times, teams had a chance to kick game-winning field goals against the Stamps, and three times, they blew the opportunity — it’s hard not to wonder if there is something at work here.

But, suggested defensive tackle Corey Mace, the Stamps’ efforts to get better, to overcome injuries, to find ways to win, can’t be discounted.

“Some of those things year, I’ve been like, ‘Oh my God — how in the hell did THAT happen?’ ” agreed Mace. “But at the same time you can’t just show up. You have to make your own destiny.”

And yet, even Mace has a sense that it was meant to be for the Stamps to be playing for a CFL title on Sunday.

“I feel personally like there’s a reason I’m here,” he said. “It’s been a long road to get where I’m at right now, and I just think the 100th is the one for me. No. 99 (his uniform number) and my first Grey Cup? Shoot, that equals 100. I don’t know. Just small things. Just a feeling.”

Simpson was new to the Canadian game when he arrived in Calgary for the 2008 season and didn’t have a sense of what winning a Grey Cup means. Rookie defensive back Keenan MacDougall, meanwhile, grew up in Saskatchewan and knows about teams enduring heartache when it comes to this game. He also knows there are no guarantees.

“Exactly. Exactly,” he repeated. “You can’t take this kind of stuff for granted. Guys who were here who went to the Grey Cup in 2008 in their first year, and they think, ‘Oh, this is easy.’ But they haven’t been back since, right? So you have to make the most of it.”

Simpson, who’s become the emotional heart and soul of the Stampeder defence, knows that now. He couldn’t play last week because of an ankle injury, but insisted early this week that nothing would keep him off the field on Sunday, and he’s making good on that promise.

“I was talking about it to some of the guys — as a young guy coming in, I don’t think you really understand,” said Simpson. “The young guys (in 2008) came into a great situation — the first year and we’re winning. It must be EASY to get to the Grey Cup. It’s not until you’ve been through a lot of things, on the field, off the field, a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears into this football stuff. So now, you embrace and love everything about this week.

“Even talking to the media — it takes so long, but you learn to enjoy it. You realize, shoot, six teams are at home right now. Six teams just had (U.S.) Thanksgiving at home.

“As veterans, we understand that you might not get here again. So leave it all out on the field.”

The 2008 team was a steady group, a group that didn’t have to deal with a pile of significant injuries and simply built steadily to that memorable evening in Montreal.

This team, on the other hand, had to scrap its way to Toronto, but the achievement has been no less significant. The same can be said about the level of belief that this team belongs on the big stage on Sunday, and will take advantage of the opportunity.

“You don’t want to walk in that locker-room (after the game) knowing that you gave yourself the best chance to win for 21 weeks, and then let it slip away,” said slotback Nik Lewis. “It doesn’t come along very often. For a lot of guys, this is their first one. For a lot of guys, this is their last one. You just have to focus in and say, hey, let’s do it.

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